Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Harry Boler

Harvey H White, Jr

Test data is incorporated within the microcode of a bit-slice microprocessor to be used during development of the program to verify program performance and during operation of the program as a built-in test. Little additional hardware is required and there is minimal impact on the structure of the program. The program is allowed to operate with the same data that it would have when integrated with the system. During development, the embedded data is used as a substitute for the rest of the system, allowing program development to continue until system integration, using only power supplies and some test equipment. When implemented and used with a commercially available microprocessor ROM emulator, the test data may be varied to highlight difficulties in algorithm design and program development. The operating program cannot tell the difference between live system data and embedded test data. Thus, the program will behave identically during development and system operation. This allows complete algorithm debugging during program development, and permits the rest of the system to be developed in parallel. Developmental test data can be used later for operational program/hardware bit confidence testing with minimal changes.

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Shawnee, KS, United States of America

Harry Boler